Armin van Buuren does not need an introduction. He’s possibly the most decorated trance deejay in history. He released his first EP in 1996. Along the way he’s created one of the most well-known record companies in electronic music, been nominated for a Grammy, put out over 800 episodes of his radio show, and become one of the most influential artists in modern dance music. He has arrived in Australia to celebrate episode 850 of A State Of Trance, and to show off his new single with Conrad Sewell, “Sex, Love, And Water”. We got the rare opportunity to carve out some time in Armin’s busy schedule to ask him a few questions. We enjoyed this interview a whole bunch and we hope you do too.

Hi Armin, to start off, you’ve had a very long career, especially by dance music standards. How do you keep evolving your music to try to stay fresh?

Well, that’s probably one of the most difficult questions you’ll ask me, so let’s get started. There’s no really golden formula. It’s not about just staying relevant in that sense, like, “Oh, I have to be commercial or whatever.” My passion’s always been with trance.

If you look at the history of music and listen to the first Beatles album or the last Beatles album, you’ll hear that the two sound completely different, and that’s also because of the way you produce music. When the Beatles started it was 4 track tapes and when they ended there were 24 track tapes. So, there was a whole different way of producing music, and that’s the same thing that’s happening with dance music right now. When I started, it was all outboard gear, a lot of Sampha synthesizers, a big mixer, and a DAT machine. And now everything’s in one DAW. You make all your music in one computer, which is a complete departure. So I’ve always been a nerd, first and foremost, and I’ve always been very interested in the new sound. So, I try to stay on top of the new techniques and that sort of stuff.

My main sound has always been trance because I’ve always loved melody. Melodies are more important to me than vocals, for example. But, having said that, I can’t really repeat myself. As proud as I am of my past successes, for example with “Communication”, or “Burned With Desire” early in my career, “In And Out Of Love” or Imagine or whatever. I can’t repeat the process, for me it’s boring to sit in the studio and recreate the same kind of vibe. I want to do something different.

So, hence the single “Sex, Love, And Water”. I’m always creating music. Every day there’s one or two melodies coming from my head, and one is good, and one is not. So, I’m always trying to create new stuff that excites me. And I guess that’s the way to stay relevant. If you just keep doing what excites you, if you just keep innovating and try to find new ground for yourself, then people will see that it’s genuine. “Sex, Love, And Water” is not a trance song. It’s a pop-funk song. It’s a different thing but it just happened, it came out of thin air. We were sitting in a studio in LA with Scott Storch and Conrad Sewell, and the song just happened. It was really something that came about because the three of us just wanted to create something beautiful. And then the song just came to us, there’s no other way to put it.

Actually, that leads us right into talking about that new single. “Sex, Love, And Water” is definitely a different vibe, a different sound, from many of your other releases. Is this a new avenue you’re pursuing? Are we going to here more of this sound from you in future stuff?

I don’t know, I mean, I will always release trance tracks. I think this month I’ve got a new compilation coming out called Trance 2018 with three brand new songs which are 138, uplifting trance tracks. I want to keep doing new things, not let’s say, funk things or disco things or whatever you want to call it. I’ll just keep innovating. My next single will be more of a summery, kind of a housey vibe and then the single after that will be a ballad. I don’t want to limit myself to one style. If it feels good and if the song touches me than that’s what I want to do.

Obviously, there’ll also be mixes that will tie into my deejay sound. Which, for “Sex, Love, And Water”, there’s the dreamy, uplifting mix, which I think works really well on the dancefloor, and it’s a classic sound. But I just want to keep innovating. I don’t want to repeat myself and my past successes. I’m not going to be a funk deejay, all of a sudden, don’t worry about that. I’ll always be a trance deejay. But I really want to keep it exciting for myself, because I can’t keep doing the same things over and over and that’s why I loved working with Scott Storch and Conrad Sewell.

Ok cool, it’s been what two years since you’ve been in Australia?

Last year, last year.

Last year, my mistake. From what you’ve experienced is there anything that makes events in Australia different from the rest of the world?

Well, I can only speak from my own experience, and what I’ve noticed is that Australia is one of the hot spots for trance music. For some reason, the Aussie crowd has always been leaning a little bit more towards trance than a few other countries. I mean, trance music has always been a little bit popular in all countries around the world. But in Australia it just seems to be a little bit more. There’s a massive following, the ticket sales for the upcoming event in Sydney are really good. I’m just super thrilled that there’s this following for trance music. There’s also a lot of trance producers from Australia, of course Marlo and so many names come from Australia. So, there’s something in the water, I guess, in Australia that makes the love of trance so big. It’s too bad that it’s such a long journey to you guys. It would be it would be easier if Australia was closer to Europe but I don’t know it’s something in the water with trance and Australia.

Finally, I guess, another tough one to end it off, but what’s the biggest shift or development in dance music that you’ve either seen recently or that you expect to see soon?

Well, long story short, I think trance music is not the most popular sound in dance music right now, which is fine because it doesn’t need to be. What I love about trance is that it has a massive global following. I think, right now, there’s a younger generation, especially in the US that grows up listening to guys like Marshmellow, who’s hugely popular. And a combination of hip-hop, R&B, and electronic music is massive now in the US. It’s just new and it’s a sign of the times that it’s just moving on and there’s always something new happening, which I think is great. So, I have no reason to be negative about that.

But my heart is with trance music. As much as I appreciate the new deejays and the new urban sound, I will always be loyal to the trance following because it’s closer to my heart. I can’t start making an urban record all of a sudden, though who knows, but I don’t think that will happen soon. It’s just a fact of the matter that there’s a huge following for that kind of sound at the moment.

Having said that though, I just did an event in the Netherlands, in Utrecht, A State Of Trance 850, Be In The Moment, which was our biggest selling trance event ever. 32,000 tickets were sold, and the best news was that the average age of the event was lower than we expected. The biggest group of visitors, which you can see because we sell the tickets online, the biggest group of people showing up was between 18 and 24. So it shows you that there’s a younger generation interested in trance music which I’m super happy about.

RaverRafting wants to thank Armin for taking the time out for the interview. It was a truly was an incredible experience to talk to such a big figure in the dance music scene. As we referenced above, Armin will be playing two shows in Australia. Details of those events are below. Also you’ll be able to find Armin’s new single “Sex, Love, And Water” which also features Conrad Sewell and the production of Scott Storch.